By Bernard Cornwell

Britain is in a state of uneasy peace.  Northumbria’s Viking ruler and Mercia’s Saxon Queen Aethelflaed have agreed to a truce.  And so England’s greatest warrior, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, at last has the chance to take back the home his traitorous uncle stole from him so many years ago.  But fate is inexorable and the enemies Uhtred has made and the oaths he has sworn combine to distract him from his dream of recapturing Bebbanburg.  New enemies enter into the fight for England’s kingdoms.  Britains precarious peace threatens to turn into a war of annihilation.  But Uhtred is determined that nothing will keep him from his birth right.